Word of God

See also: word of God

English

Alternative forms

• God's word

Etymology

From Middle English worde of god, wurde of god, variant of Middle English godes word, Godes word (“Word of God”, literally “God's word”), from Old English Godes word (“Word of God”). Compare West Frisian Wurd fan God, Dutch Woord van God.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

  (file)

Proper noun

the Word of God

1. A sacred teaching, writing or book viewed as being the work of God.
   • 1996, H.M. Vroom, translated by Lucy Jansen, No Other Gods: Christian Belief in Dialogue with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam‎^[1], →ISBN:

     Smith argues that the Koran is the Word of God for Muslims.

   • 2009, Fateh Ullah Khan, God Created the Universe with the Purpose to Serve Humankind, →ISBN, page 309:

     This leads to a far reaching conclusion, proving that Quran is the Word of God Who exists

3. (Christianity) The Logos, or God the Son.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 1:1:

     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

4. (fandom slang) The creator(s) of a media franchise and/or their extradiegetic revelations about plot, characters, etc.
   • 2009 December 31, James Nicoll, “Re: Casting Tunnel”, in alt.fan.heinlein‎^[2] (Usenet):

     To me, citing the letter is a bit like the whole Dumbledore is gay thing. Sure, we have the Word of God [1] that he is but I prefer my evidence to come from the text.

   • 2012 February 29, Karolina Dean...Big money weave a mighty web, “Screwed by the Network”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling‎^[3] (Usenet):

     ABC screwed over My Wife and Kids by cancelling it after the creators had already been promised another season, thus ending the series on a cliffhanger as a result(though Word Of God's explanation for what would've happened next season lessens the blow somewhat).

   • 2013 December 19, Robert Carnegie, “Re: Older children's fantasy”, in rec.arts.sf.written‎^[4] (Usenet):

     Word of God - that is, of Author - is that Professor Dumbledore is gay, but if we're given his biography and can't see that anyway then I think something's wrong.

Related terms

• Word

Translations

sacred teaching, writing or book viewed as the work of God

• Arabic: كَلَام اللّٰهِ m (kalām allāhi)
• Finnish: Jumalan Sana
• German: Wort Gottes m
• Polish: Słowo Boże n
• Romanian: Cuvântul lui Dumnezeu n
• Swedish: Guds Ord n
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can